Doctor Dealer

July 13, 2020
This riveting look at a cold-blooded murder from Anastasia (Gotti’s Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia) and Cipriano (Target: The Senator, a Story About Power and Abuse of Power) tells the sad story of James Kauffman, a respected endocrinologist who sold opioids illegally on the side, and his wife, April, a popular radio host. The couple were on the edge of a bitter divorce when April was found shot to death in their home in Linwood, N.J., on May 10, 2012. April’s grown daughter from her first marriage instantly suspected Kauffman, who later remarried and continued his opioid pill mill and association with members of a biker gang who were drug dealers and users. In 2018, Kauffman was arrested for fraud, and several of the bikers who were arrested on various charges turned state’s evidence against him as having hired a hit man to kill his wife. Kauffman committed suicide in jail before he could be tried for April’s murder, but the real tragedy is his second wife, who was unaware of the doctor’s drug dealing or gang connections; her reputation and business were destroyed, and the feds tried to take her home. The authors dramatically show how sometimes one can never really know another person. Agent: Frank Weimann, Folio Literary Management.

August 1, 2020

Journalists Anastasia (The Last Gangster) and Cipriano (Target) delve into the murder of April Kauffman and the dark world inhabited by her husband, James Kauffman, the well-respected doctor accused of arranging her murder. After April's death, her husband's criminal activity came to light, including a history of fraud and a prescription drug trafficking operation with an area motorcycle club. The book spans the many years it has taken to establish connections between the crimes and find answers for April. The authors rely heavily on insight from two central figures in the case, but there is a considerable amount of speculation throughout, making it a challenge to distinguish fact from theory, but nevertheless, Anastasia and Cipriano distill a sensational, complex case into a clear narrative. VERDICT An entertaining story with broad appeal for true crime fans. Readers looking to contextualize the ongoing opioid crisis may also enjoy Sam Quinones's Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic.--Kate Bellody, Stat Univ. of New York, New Paltz

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2020
April Kauffman, a vivacious blonde radio host in New Jersey, was found fatally shot on her bedroom floor in 2012. Six years later, her husband, endocrinologist James Kauffman, hanged himself in his jail cell three weeks after he was charged with paying a hit man $50,000 to kill her. Did he orchestrate the murder of his second wife? In his six-page suicide note, he blamed outlaw bikers. Kauffman lied about his military service, collected guns, and wrote bogus prescriptions for the opioid oxycodone. As veteran crime writers Anastasia and Cipriano attest, word on the street was that the good doctor decided that murder was cheaper than divorce. This well-written account reads like a Hollywood screenplay. Who will play Andrew Glick, a six-foot, 220-pound chef, biker, and former meth and cocaine distributor who becomes a government informer? Who will play Freddy Augello, a former bike gang boss convicted of orchestrating the murder? Who will play Carole Weintraub, Jim Kauffman's high-school sweetheart, who married him not long after April's death? True-crime fans will be intrigued.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)